In the wake of a new law criminalising illegal currency exchange dealers that took effect late last month, the Judiciary Police (PJ) on Wednesday uncovered the case of a gang exchanging gambling chips into yuan for gamblers at casinos and their adjacent facilities in Cotai, involving a total amount of about HK$5 million.
Announcing details of the case during a special press conference yesterday, PJ spokesman Ho Wai Lok noted that the gang, consisting of four members – three males and a female aged between 28 and 37, had been operating for at least two months, with their “unlawful earnings” amounting to HK$430,000 from more than 80 illegal currency exchange deals.
The Judiciary Police arrested the quartet at a hotel guestroom in Cotai on Wednesday evening after a receiving a report from hotel security guards through the hospitality sector-police notification mechanism, according to Ho, who noted that in the operation, PJ officers seized several mobile phones used for illicit currency exchange deals, HK$1.45 million in cash, HK$3,300 in casino chips, and a notebook for recording the deals’ respective amounts, spreads and exchange rates.
Under questioning, the four suspects, who had entered Macau legally earlier this month from the mainland, admitted that when they came across gamblers who wanted to exchange amounts of HK$1 million or more, they would band together to raise sufficient funds among themselves, adding that by exchanging yuan for HK$10,000, they could earn 60 to 100 yuan each from the spread.
The four suspects, surnamed Xiong, Wu, Zeng and Xu, were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) for further investigation yesterday, facing also organised crime charges.
2 more illegal currency exchange dealers nabbed
Meanwhile, also on Wednesday, two mainlanders were caught red-handed by PJ officers on patrol at a casino hotel in Cotai when converting yuan into a gambling chip worth HK$50,000 for a gambler.
According to the spokesman, the Judiciary Police seized HK$67,000 in chips and HK$450,000 in cash from the duo aged 43 and 46.
The two suspects, surnamed Yang and Bai, were also transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday.
The hooded illegal currency exchange suspects are escorted in two separate groups, one comprising four and the other two suspects, by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers to PJ vehicles outside the PJ headquarters in Zape. – Photos: Yuki Lei
